Is the Golden Age of movie from Steven Spielberg over? (1 Viewer)

[todd stone]

Perhaps I am being a bit nostalgic, growing up with E.T. and all, but whose to say Popcorn flicks are a bad thing?

Do not get me wrong, SPR etc are fantastic movies. Heck even the Band of Brothers series is a favorite of mine*can't wait for the Pacific wars one*, but if you take a look back at those 80's movies, there is just something "magic" about that whole slew of them, that we just don't seem to be getting these days, IMO

 

[StephenA]

I don't think he ever left his golden age of filmmaking since Jaws. Ever since Jaws he has made great and/or fun films. To me he has a lot of the best films from the '80s, '90s, and now. He just made different kinds of films, not all being blockbusters, but all being grat in their own respect.

 

[Julian Lalor]

Well, add me to the few voices of dissention. Yes, I believe that Spielberg's "golden age" is well and truly over and shows no signs of resuscitation. His early films may be "popcorn" flicks, but at least they were (1941 excepted) vastly entertaining and knew it. However, ever since The Color Purple his films have been tempered with a degree of pomposity and self-importance. "Empire of the Sun" was unbearable and unbearably long; the two Indiana Jones sequels just don't cut it against the original; Hook was an unqualified disaster (have a look at the new P J Hogan version to see just how wrong this film is).

In consequence, his films for me are neither as entertaining and certainly could never be considered "deep", notwithstanding their asperations to the contrary. In many senses, Spielberg has revealed himself to be a director without the courage of his convictions. "Schindler's List" was the closest he has come to escaping his limitations as a film-maker, but he just had to go ruin it with that fabricated ending, destroying the whole character of Schindler in the process. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are few: Jurassic Park was wonderful fun, almost a throw-back to Jaws, although I find it somewhat lacking 10 years on (perhaps the two sequels dimmed my appreciation). "Catch Me if You Can" was a delightful confection, but as with all his recent films, far, far too long for such a simple little story.

As for Spielberg's recent "important" films, I find nothing in A.I, Saving Private Ryan or Minority Report to suggest a film-maker in his prime. Saving Private Ryan has a great, but entirely unnecessary, opening 40 minutes but the rest of the movie is pure formula, and appears almost stolen from The Fighting Sullivans. A.I. was just misbegotten and Minority Report dragged on and on and on until the requisite Spielberg happy ending. The fact that the films all looked like someone had stood in the shower with each roll of film for 2 hours, when (with the possible exception of SPR) there was no artistic reason why they had to look so grainy just highlights to me a film-maker obsessed with the look, rather than the feel, of things.

 

[WillG]

I think that is exactly it. Think of the time in Jaws when you saw the Shark for the first time, or the mothership in CE3K, or the Dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, or the snakes in R.O.T.L.A. or the bikes taking off in E.T. There was a certain awe to it. If you don't want to call that his "Golden era", it is certainly his "Classic" era. He has done films recently with more challenging subject matter and many have been very good. He has matured as a filmmaker but I think that "Magic" and optimism is being left behind to some degree. However, with modern filmmaiking advancements, it is harder to give that "awe" so perhaps he is a victim of the times in some way and he has outsmarted himself with some of the techinques he helped pioneer.

 

[Chris Will]

I learned quite a bit from Schindler's List. When I was in high school, my history classes never talked about the Holocaust so when I saw the movie I had no idea. It openned my mind and lead me to to more research about the subject and about Oscar Schindler. I think the film openned a lot of peoples eyes about that period of history. He may have changed the ending to be more cinematic but that does not mean that you can not learn something. If it was not for Schindler's List I would have never done my own research to discover the horror of that period in world history. It also openned my eyes to how horrible our school system is in the US. They do not teach history and they censor to much. I guess they think high school kids can't handel the real world, but isn't that what they are suppose to be preparing kids for. For college I went to a tech school so I do not know what University history classes are like. Schindler's List was my favorite movie of all time until the LOTR Trilogy.

By the way, Empire of the Sun is one of Speilbergs best movie. It is so underrate.

 

[Kevin Grey]

WillG I know what you're saying but I think Spielberg has done "feeling of awe" better than anyone will ever do and just isn't interested in it anymore. That's why I'm so interested in the Spielberg of today- he's trying different genres and different approaches more readily than in the early part of his career. We'll always have Jaws, ET, and CE3K so there is no reason for him to keep trying to recreate the wheel.

Its not that he's necessarilly a better director now than twenty years ago, its that IMO he's always been great and looks to keep maintaining that level of quality. Compared to his other contemporaries in the 70s (Scorcese, De Palma, Friedkin, Lucas, Coppolla) perhaps only Scorcese has managed to managed such a consistently excellent record of film.

 

[Andy_G]

I second Empire of the Sun.

 

[WillG]

I agree. I think he is doing some good things now. People seemed to be a bit outraged at the ideas of the person who started this thread, so I was trying to lend some creedence to his ideas because I see the point he is trying to make. I don't think in 50 years looking back Spielberg will be as much remembered for "Minority Report" "A.I." and "Catch Me if you Can" but for Jaws, CE3K, E.T. Jurassic Park and the Indiana Jones Series. I'm enjoying what he is doing today (although I didn't much care for A.I. It started out interesting but lost my interest down the line) Like I said before, I wouldn't mind if he wanted to a film that recolleced his past output,

 

[David Rogers]

# Catch Me If You Can (2002)
# Minority Report (2002)
# Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
# Saving Private Ryan (1998)
# Lost World: Jurassic Park, The (1997)
# Schindler's List (1993)
# Jurassic Park (1993)
# Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
# Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
# E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
# Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
# Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
# Jaws (1975)

I think it’s safe to say Spielberg is one of, and in my opinion THE, most influential director in the business. His work is never trite or laughable, and usually manages to hit you right between the eyes with heart and soul. The point of movies is to foremost entertain. Spielberg does this. Further, he always crafts believable and compelling characters from the material he chooses to present. He’s been on the forefront of filmmaking techniques and craftsmanship his entire career. Subjects that most directors could never touch successfully (particularly science fiction) he takes and makes into timeless classics. Again and again and again.

Looking briefly at the films themselves …

Jaws invented the very concept of blockbusters. Films that are roaring jaunts of fun and frolic. Scores of monster and animal ‘thriller suspense’ films have come and gone since, and only Jaws has the total package to render it a classic.

Close Encounters manages to be an epic science fiction film that’s thoughtful and based firmly in characters when almost ALL of Hollywood (then and now) chooses instead to treat the entire genre as nothing more than empty effects fests.

The Indiana Jones series is, for this poster’s money, the very definition of cliffhanger driven adventure storytelling. Yet despite this the series does not use empty headed characters nor unbelievable plot devices to carry the audience on rip-roaring rides that are immensely entertaining.

E.T. is again a science fiction film that’s timeless and devoid of space monsters or vapid concepts that cause eye rolling instead of entranced breathlessness. It has tremendous heart and a near universal appeal.

Jurassic Park showed the entire world what CG means for the art of visual storytelling; enabling a vast palette limited only by imagination and the capacity of the film’s budget and production schedule. This at the same time as Spielberg again creates compelling characters and again uses believable plot construction to drive the film. Empty use of CG is a bane of film fans these days, but fans can take heart and hope that the director effects directors should be studying gave them a proper model to follow.

Schindler’s List is a story that in anyone else’s hands would be a docudrama style yawner, but under his direction becomes a masterpiece of historical filmmaking.

Saving Private Ryan raised the bar immensely for war stories, both in production quality and in how you craft such a tale. It uses an amazing level of realism and the trademark Spielberg character skills on an epic scale.

A.I. again is a science fiction tale absent of any the tired and vapid mistakes so many studios permit and encourage in the genre. Spielberg continues to use tremendous character and world building skills and carries the audience through an enthralling plot that is never stale or trite.

Minority Report, once again, is a science fiction tale that defies the same old failed norms. Again Spielberg uses character and world building skills masterfully. It looks into the future and shows us several looming pitfalls that await us if our society doesn’t get a handle on personal privacy protections.

Finally, Catch Me if you Can continues Spielberg’s use of his trademark character creation and compelling plot construction skills. That it is based on a true story in no way diminishes the crafting and appeal Spielberg imbued in the tale.

Frankly, I’m amazed anyone would dare argue Spielberg has lost anything. He’s only gotten better, and he started light-years beyond his peers in the first place. Perhaps I could be hooked up with some of whatever was being smoked when this thread was started; I like to get lost in the pretty colors sometimes too you know.

 

[Seth--L]

As people have already stated, Saving Private Ryan follows to standard formula for WWII films. The only thing Spielberg does differently is add some more violence. This isn't "raising the bar," but a natural progression.

 

[MartinTeller]

There is no "point of movies". It's up to the individual filmmaker to say what the "point" of his film is. There was a lengthy discussion about this some time ago in the Sight & Sound thread.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Perhaps he won't, but A.I. will be. Of course, it is still more a Kubrick than Spielberg movie, but it was jointly developed. I know many disagree, but mark my words, long after the fluff that is Minority Report has been forgotten, people will still watch and debate A.I.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

But the story isn't necessarily about humanity at it's absolute worst. As for the "feel good" comment, we must have seen two DRASTICALLY different films.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Seth--L]

It's about the possibility for redemption during humanities darkest moments.

 

[Julian Lalor]

People have already stopped debating this film. I'm not sure why you think this film, in particular, merits special attention.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

The reason I compared it to Minority Report is that many others did, especially those who did not like A.I. Many of those chose MR as an example of how a good Spielberg SF film should be, as opposed to A.I., which apparently was not a good SF or Spielberg film. However, I feel, right or wrong, that many of those who said Mínority Report was great have already forgotten it and moved on to newer films with even better SFX . I still believe that A.I. will be remembered long after MR is forgotten, partly because of the controversy it caused, but mostly because I find it to be a much better, deeper and more interesting film.

 

[todd stone]

I find NOTHING spectacular about A.I. I still do not see what the big deal was over this movie? It was a nightmare sitting throught the last half hour of this movie.